Central grad Wayne Tribue looking for NFL roster spot

The Temple letterwinner has been on practice squads and recently signed a futures contract with the 49ers.

The NFL season has ended, and offensive lineman Wayne Tribue, 22, finds himself in a familiar position. He's not really sure what the future holds.

The 2008 Central York graduate played well enough to earn a practice squad job with several teams, but he bounced around. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Denver Broncos, he played with the Broncos practice squad through the first week of the NFL's regular season. He earned another practice squad job with the Saints. And then after the regular season ended, the San Francisco 49ers called.

Tribue flew out to Santa Clara, Calif., for a workout. He signed a futures contract with the club.

"It's basically an end-of-season signing," Tribue said.

A futures contract allows NFL teams to lock up practice squad and nonroster players before the signing season officially begins later in March. Players on NFL active rosters at the end of the season are not eligible for this type of contract, but it's a way for teams to lock up players for the upcoming season.

Tribue has not worked out or practiced with the 49ers since signing.

York County's John Kuhn managed to parlay a spot on the practice squad into a lengthy NFL career. The Dover and Shippensburg graduate signed with Pittsburgh as a nondrafted free agent in 2005. Promoted from the practice squad to the Steelers active roster in 2006, Kuhn has spent the last six seasons in Green Bay -- and won a Super Bowl ring. Another fellow York County player, Penn State's Chaz Powell, 25, signed as a practice squad player with the Packers on Dec. 5.

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Listed at 6-foot-4, 324 pounds during his senior year at Temple, Tribue was a four-year letterwinner for the Owls -- seeing most of his time at guard. This is Tribue's first season playing on NFL practice squads. A graduate of Temple, he's been concentrating on breaking through on an active roster.

"It's difficult to describe," Tribue said. "I was just happy to be a part of it.

And forget holding down a full-time job outside the NFL as a backup plan.

"I needed to be able to leave at any second," Tribue said. "I was always working out full-time, I never felt like I could take days off.

"After the first regular-season game I was back in York," Tribue said. "I made a couple trips, went to a couple workouts."

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